For the casual NBA fan, there is only one Orlando Magic player popping up in water-cooler conversations: Paolo Banchero, this year’s first overall pick who, at 19, already looks like a borderline All-Star. For NBA nerds, however, this Orlando roster, which has managed to win just one of its first seven games, is fast becoming a big talking point.
With big being the operative term.
With a guard rotation that has been decimated by injuries to Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, Markelle Fultz and Gary Harris, the Magic, recently began fielding a starting lineup that features three players — Banchero, Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr. — listed at 6-foot-10, and a fourth listed at 7-foot-2.
I’m here to talk about the 7-2 guy. His name is Bol Bol. If you’re not an NBA nerd, you might be familiar with Bol’s father, Manute Bol, who at one time was the tallest player in NBA history, but you probably don’t know a lot about the son. Know this: the 22-year-old is shooting up the early short list for Most Improved Player, and at his size, he has skills that will legitimately blow you away.
It’s true of all these Orlando big guys. That’s how they can play all of them together. Banchero can score and create off the dribble like a wing. Wagner operates capably and comfortably as a point guard. Carter is an extremely fluid center with a deft touch. They can all shoot from deep. They can all put the ball on the floor. So skilled is this frontline that you tend to lose track of just how big they actually are.
But not Bol. Even in today’s supersized NBA, you can’t lose track of 7-foot-2. Rather, when Bol starts doing his thing, you find that you can’t take your eyes off of him. Just watch this sequence below, during which Bol closes out hard to a shooter, Dorian Finney-Smith, in the corner, moves his feet to cut off Finney-Smith’s drive, grabs the rebound, then immediately turns and pushes the ball, causally losing Finney-Smith with a behind-the-back dribble before finishing a fancy-footwork runner at the other end.
Suffice it to say, human beings the size of Bol are not supposed to be able to move and make coast-to-coast plays like this. And we’re not talking about a fluke play. Bol does this kind of thing regularly.
And again.
This also isn’t a case of a really tall guy only being able to finish close to the basket. His small-sample stats don’t reflect it yet this season (25 percent from 3), but look at these clips and tell me this isn’t a guy who can shoot the ball.
Bol had one of the widest variances coming into the 2019 draft. He played just nine games as a freshman at Oregon before a stress fracture in his foot ended his lone collegiate season, but over that short sample he scored 21 points per game and shot 52 percent from 3. Prior to this year, his most significant NBA sample was when he shot 37.5 percent from 3 over 32 games with Denver two seasons ago.
This season, Bol’s 67.3 effective field-goal percentage ranks sixth among all big men, per Cleaning the Glass, and his 143.3 points per 100 shot attempts rank second among all big men. He’s making 86 percent of his shots inside four feet, and 60 percent within the 4-14 foot range, per CTG.
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It’s not just the offense. You can imagine the impact Bol can make with his good feet and 7-foot-6 wingspan on the defensive end. Indeed, we’re all freaking out about the size-skill combination of presumed 2023 top pick Victor Wembanyama, who is also listed at 7-foot-2, and just to be clear, I am not comparing Bol to Wembanyama, who looks like one of the best prospects ever. But Bol, who might end up being a rotation-player version of a Wembanyama, is starting to do some similar things.
This is crazy, right? Wembanyama taking off from the free-throw line to block a 3-point shot?
Bol did the same thing to Malcolm Brogdon a little more than a week ago.
Bol, in fact, blocked two Brogdon 3-point attempts in less than a two-minute span. Here he does the same to Luka Doncic before finishing on the other end.
It’s not the only time Bol got the better of Doncic.
Here he gets Evan Mobley.
Entering play on Monday, Bol’s 17 blocked shots are second only to Brook Lopez’s 20. So far he’s only averaging 20 minutes per game, but that number is steadily rising. He played 30 minutes against Dallas on Sunday and finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. Extrapolated out to per 36 minutes, which he might find himself playing before long, Bol Bol would be averaging over 19 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
The number that looks best for the Magic? The $2.2 million Bol is making this season, a certified peanuts contract for the type of player he is quickly proving to be. Bol took a long route to get here. Drafted by the Heat at No. 44 overall because everyone was afraid of his body not holding up. Traded to Denver. Sent down to the G-League. Traded to Detroit, only to fail his physical and be sent back to Denver. Traded to Boston, for which he never played a game. Traded to Orlando, which was seemingly up to its eyes with big men. Nonetheless, by way of this supersized lineup, Bol has gotten his chance, and so far, he’s taking major advantage of the opportunity.
